finished the struggle between the popes and the emperors, for the most important of these movements overlap this great contest. Then there is the question of how and where to give the student some insight into English conditions so that he may understand the relation of that country to the main stream of European development. Again there is the question of just where and in what connection to present the life and culture so that it may leave the most lasting impression. There are many good reasons for leaving the presentation of the Crusades until after the struggle between the popes and emperors and then considering the life of the times especially in its connection with the rising towns. It is an easy and a natural transition from the development of trade as affected by the Crusades to a consideration of the towns themselves and town life. Conditions here can be presented in a sharp contrast to those discussed earlier in connection with feudalism. The Thirteenth Century as a Turning Point. It has been suggested that 1268 be selected as a turning point in the history of Europe, marking as it does the practical disappearance for the time being of the empire as a factor in politics, the beginning of the decline of the papacy, and the rise of the third estate, which is illustrated in England by the growth of the House of Commons and in Germany and Italy by the two great city leagues and the power of Venice, Florence and Genoa. If this suggestion is followed, the Hundred Years’ War and the history of the papacy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries may serve to introduce the Renaissance if a discussion of the latter is preceded or followed by a general summary of the political situation in Europe at the opening of the sixteenth century, with special reference to those powers, both new and old, which are to dominate in the new period. Absence of Unifying Elements. The attempt to bridge the period between the Hundred Years’ War and the Renaissance and Reformation is attended with a great many real difficulties, which are aggravated rather than lightened by the usual arrangement of material to be found in the text-book. There is not only an apparent absence of unifying elements, but the impression created on teacher and student is that of turmoil and confusion, with here and there a situation full of dramatic interest. “Only the closest attention,” declares one writer, “can detect the germs of future order in the midst of the struggle of dying and nascent forces, ... The dominant characteristic of the age is its diversity, and it is hard to find any principle of coördination.”[5] Although the task before the secondary teacher is not an easy one, it is possible by confining the attention of the student to a few fundamental facts successfully to meet the problem.